Yourself or Someone Like You
by Kythil
Summary: Collection of Hino Rei/Aino Minako shorts.
1. Valentine '09

**Valentine '09**

-kyth (02/14/09)

* * *

There is a bouquet of roses on the bedside table. Rei's grip tightens on the stem of her single offering as she tries to fight down the feelings of inferiority and shame that want to paint her face red.

She takes a few calming breaths before leaning over the bed, pulling down blue covers oh-so slightly so she can see the sleeping beauty's closed eyes. The priestess immerses herself in the sensations of the moment; the sound of the sleeper's slow breaths, the smell -- of caramel and honey, the sight of golden hair splayed over the pillows, the weight of the rose in her hand, and, of course, the pervading taste of fear in her mouth. The emotions threaten to smother her, lodging themselves in the back of her throat and chest so she cannot breathe anything but the sleeper's breaths.

Rei watches, somewhere outside of her body, as the girl's eyelashes begin to flutter against her cheek and she shifts. Now, Rei knows she is trapped, and, resigned, releases her anxieties with an exhale.

"Minako," she says reverently as blue eyes flutter open and widen immediately in recognition and surprise. "Happy Valentine's Day."

She offers the single red rose to sleepy hands.

The smile she is rewarded with reaches Minako's eyes and somehow, hers too.

* * *

Note: Just a little offering for Valentine's Day. Sometime soon I'm going to write and finish a multi-chapter Minako/Rei. Expect more. Not gonna let you down this time.


	2. Find

**Find**

**-**kyth (02/18/09)

* * *

"Minako."

"Fancy seeing you here. I thought you didn't believe in god."

Rei held a bouquet of lilies in her hands, for her mother.

"I'm not here for god." She swept past the blonde, the edges of her long brown overcoat brushing against the idol's leg. The former miko's scent carried on the wind, no longer of incense and jasmine but some generic perfume that Minako would have hated had it belonged to anyone but Rei.

"I'll wait," she said in the tone that brooked no argument.

"Suit yourself."

* * *

It was bitterly cold outside and the wind bit through Minako's gloves. She shoved them into the pockets of her jacket, legs fidgeting. Half an hour had passed since Rei disappeared around the corner of the church, and Minako cursed herself for wearing a skirt today.

She felt the presence behind her a little too late, the cold having numbed her senses. Or maybe Rei was just good at sneaking up on her. The warm body wrapped itself around her, pushing her against the cold stone pillar she had been waiting by. Legs slithered between Minako's, sending a shock of heat through her entire body.

"Your lips are blue." Rei's voice, deep and husky against her ear sent a fresh wave of blood to her face.

"Not anymore," she huffed, burrowing into Rei's shoulder and knowing full well that she was red as a tomato.

"Minako." The blonde lifted bright blue eyes to her sometimes lover and let out a little mew when fiery lips captured her own. An impossibly hot tongue slid into her mouth. Caught by surprise, she couldn't do anything but let Rei have her way. She was too good at that, Minako decided, and promised herself that she'd take the former miko completely off guard one day. This was before Rei's teeth nipped at her lip and all coherent thought wiped from her mind.

Minutes passed before the two parted long enough for Rei to speak:

"I missed you. I'm sorry."

The blonde smiled like some kind of angel. "You better damn well be sorry. I forgive you anyway." She hesitated before letting her fingers skim over the lapels of Rei's jacket. The leather was familiar under her skin. She remembered shopping for this jacket, years ago. It still smelled like incense. Incense and jasmine. "Rei?"

Blue eyes met violet, and the raven-haired woman raised an eyebrow. The twinkle was back in her eye.

"Nevermind," Minako muttered, pulling her ex-ex lover back down for a kiss.

* * *

Later, as they made their way back to Rei's apartment, the miko leaned in and said, "You shouldn't wear skirts in winter."

"Yeah, well, every winter til this one, I've had a space heater that came everywhere with me, so I didn't have to worry about it."

Rei blinked, her face twisting into a half-scowl. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but... did you just compare me to a space heater?"

"I didn't compare you to one, I called you one." The blonde answered nonchalantly. "Hey, Rei?"

"Hnn?" The former miko was still trying to decide if she had just been insulted.

"Did you find god while you were gone?"

Rei glanced at Minako, something unreadable in her eyes, then up at the cloudy sky. Snow was starting to fall.

"Yeah, Mina. I did."

* * *

_And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?_

_Was it everything you wanted to find,_

_And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?_

-Drops of Jupiter, Train

* * *

Note: This was supposed to be way more angsty and less fluffy, but I got lazy so I ended up making it easy. Maybe one day I'll write the thing this was supposed to be.

It's not as organized or smooth as it could be...

Also, I'm having a bit of a dilemma on what project I should embark on now. I've got a few promising ideas that all want to be written. Not quite sure which one I should start first.

For people who read _The Seduction_: It will be written one day. I like the concept and I like how I formatted it, so I think I will eventually return to it.


	3. Self Sacrifice

**Self-Sacrifice**

-kyth (03/02/09)

* * *

I'm watching her again. I can't stop myself, not that I'd want to. These days, I don't even try to hide it anymore.

She can sense whenever I'm looking at her, and this time, she lifts her head from whatever chore she's doing and smiles right at me.

I smile back, a little flustered, struck, again, by how beautiful the color purple can be. By now, the feeling of butterflies in my stomach has become familiar since it's around whenever she's around, and we're together almost every day.

I always thought that, with time, you'd get used to how amazing one person could be. That every little thing they did would, eventually, stop stunning you into speechlessness. I guess with Rei, that rule just doesn't apply.

I can feel blue eyes observing me observing her, and when I turn, Ami gives me a sympathetic glance before handing change back to a customer. I shrug my shoulders as if to say, 'It doesn't bother me,' even though Rei's the first thing on my mind when I wake up and the last thought I have before falling asleep. Ami goes back to mooning over her own seemingly out of reach love who is helping Yuuichirou carry boxes of charms to our booth.

When they reach us, Mako tries to wipe the sweat away from her brow, but Ami is there and dabbing a handkerchief against her forehead. They're both sporting the tiny blushes of young people in love for the first time and happier in this moment than I've ever seen them before.

I try to quash the envy that starts to bubble up but I'm not strong enough to keep away the thoughts that ask why I can't have that. I already know. The curse hangs over my head like an executioner's axe.

Yuuichirou catches my eye from behind the two lovebirds, shooting me a knowing look. I return it, feeling an easy camaraderie with the man who is in much the same boat as I am. I should be jealous of Yuuichirou, should resent him for being so close to Rei. Yet I --

She's moving closer; I can feel it even though I can't see her. Like clockwork, Yuuichirou and I turn our heads. She refuses to be ignored.

She's so calm, so poised… An unspeakable hunger starts to well up; selfishness that I can't silence. I close my eyes for a second, breathe, and give up all pretenses of martyrdom.

She's coming this way and I have the sudden urge to write my own destiny.

* * *

Note: Forgive me for publishing this complete and utter piece of trash. Consider it my apology for not updating sooner and something to tide people over until I can get the three little one-shots I'm working on done.

The next thing coming out of the studio will probably be a longer one-shot inspired by the song _Hey Girl_ by Dashboard Confessional. The other is nothing remarkable but involves a hat, names, and general fluff. The last bit me in the ass and wouldn't let go, based off a prompt: "fan." It involves Minako in spandex shorts and playing volleyball, but most of all, spandex shorts, so...

Anyway, lemme know how you liked it.


	4. Lost in the Static

**Lost in the Static  
**

-kyth (04/08/09)

* * *

**I. **

The knock at her apartment door roused Rei out of her novel. She opened the door to a dripping Minako and felt something in the vicinity of her chest clench. Blue eyes bore intently into hers. Rei knew that look, and she wasn't in the mood for it, not today. Squaring her shoulders in the doorway, hands on her hips, she faced the blonde with the sternest face she could muster.

"Minako--"

A hand (_her nails were painted purple, and that meant she wasn't happy)_ reached up to her face, brushing lightly over the shell of her ear and the reading glasses she had forgotten to take off. As always, the touch sent a liquefying surge up from her knees to her throat.

"I didn't know you wore glasses." Minako's voice was low, and throaty, and barely audible under the drum of raindrops on the roof and windows of the building. Stark threads of lightning raced through invisible nodes in the sky, lighting up the dark corridor. The sudden brightness cast strange shadows on Minako's face, and in that moment, Rei felt closer to her (_loverleaderenemy_) -- whatever she was -- than she had in months. Like maybe she could come closer to understanding the storm under blue eyes.

"I didn't want anyone to know." The raven-haired woman cursed her lungs, her weak tongue, for letting her voice go so high and breathy.

"Why?"

But Rei's shoulders had drooped, and when Minako laid her purple-nailed hands on her hips, she felt herself take a step back. The door clicked decisively behind them. Rei's lips moved, trying to answer the question, but under Minako's own, the words wouldn't come.

**

* * *

II.**

"I'll protect you," she had said, glaring fiercely at the ocean. They had been younger then, too young to understand that the strength of their feelings for each other wasn't natural.

"Stupid Mina," Rei had replied back then, and she murmured it now as the blonde slept: "I don't want you to protect me."

Even in her sleep, Minako tossed, ever fearful of a spectre the priestess couldn't see.

Rei curled an arm around her best friend, letting her lips linger on a spot behind Minako's ear:

"I wish you would let me see what you're so scared of."

**

* * *

III.**

She was running through the strawberry fields, long blonde hair trailing behind her. A thin red ribbon struggled in vain to tame her golden locks, made wavy by drying in the sun. There was grass in Minako's hair, Rei noted -- grass from when she had rolled down the hill and pulled Rei down with her. A tiara of carefully braided flowers lay atop her hair, the same color as her eyes but not quite. There was nothing in the world that was exactly the color of Minako's eyes.

"Come on, Rei!" She had her hand outstretched, and the priestess felt a stone drop into her stomach.

She was an angel; she was an angel and Rei couldn't follow where she went.

"I can't!" A hint of panic crept into her voice now. Why couldn't she have stayed an unseen observer, watching Minako forever? She would have been happy that way. Why did she have to choose, and risk losing that light?

"Why not? Let's just go already!" She was fidgeting where she stood, the music in her feet pulling her this way and that. Rei wondered how long the music would keep Minako with her.

"Just... Go on without me." The priestess bowed her head, trying to avoid the sight of everything good in the world walking, dancing away.

A firm hand (_orange nail polish_, a detached voice noted) fell on her shoulder, and she found herself snared by blue eyes.

"I'm not leaving you."

Their hands linked and Rei stepped into the sun. She glanced sideways at Minako, praying with all her might:

_Let this be real._

**

* * *

IV.**

"I'm trying to hide how much I need you." Rei's fingers plunged deeper into her lover, as she mouthed the words. They were barely a whistle in the air. Minako wouldn't hear; her ears were filled with the throbbing of her need.

The raven-haired woman dipped her head, resting her lips on the perfect skin of Minako's chest. "It's not love," she said audibly; "this isn't love anymore."

Minako whimpered, repeating Rei's name like it was a religion.

The priestess slid her tongue over a collarbone littered with tiny red marks. Her mouth came to a stop, pressing against Minako's pulse. Her hands stopped their work as she counted the steady beats, drawing a pleading cry from the woman beneath her.

_Listen to me. Listen to me the way I listen to you._ The raven-haired woman bit down harshly.

Frantic fingers clutched at her back, her hair. She shifted, raising amethyst eyes to Minako's blue -- blue like the sky, and clear, clearer than Rei expected.

"Minako," she breathed, asking, probing.

And her lover smiled, "Anything, Rei. I'd give you anything."

_

* * *

_

_She makes her weak._

* * *

**Note:** So I lied last chapter. Instead of finishing the other things I mentioned, I got a little sidetracked by some original stuff and couldn't get back into Mina/Rei until recently. Sorry bout that.

This offering was written spontaneously, and is no good. It's more of an exercise to get me back into Rei/Mina. I feel like a big problem between Minako and Rei is their mutual reluctance to communicate truthfully. Thus, I wanted to write something in which Rei was trying to say something but Minako wasn't listening, or couldn't understand. Lemme know how you like it. Still looking for a beta-reader/sounding board I can bounce ideas to.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm seeing Third Eye Blind live in a few weeks, and I'm ridiculously, insanely, obscenely happy. Like, crack happiness. That's how overjoyed I am.


End file.
